This year, the fair's 2,533 exhibition booths will be filled by companies and organizations from China and other 31 countries and regions.

Fiji will join the exhibition, as the first Pacific island country to attend the fair, the organizers said.

See Chee Kong, minister from the embassy of Malaysia in China, said at the news conference in Beijing that the trade relationship between China and Malaysia dates back more than 2,000 years, when the two nations traded crops and silk. Today, China has become Malaysia's largest trade partner.

Malaysia has attended the fair for many years and co-hosted the fair in 2015. The event has been greatly welcomed and utilized by Malaysian exhibitors, the minister said. To date, more than 70 Malaysian companies have applied to attend this year's fair and more companies are expected to apply, covering fields of food, health products, real estate and tourism.

The 2019 fair will also feature new areas aimed at boosting the high-quality development of SMEs. A special exhibition will be set up with 1,028 booths displaying the newest achievements in promoting SMEs' high-quality development, featuring nearly 900 excellent SMEs and also their products.

The SMEs include companies incubated in entrepreneurship and innovation centers and innovation-type small and micro businesses invested in by a national SME fund.

This year's fair has made efforts to attract participants from more countries and regions to help SMEs win more business opportunities. The United Nations Industrial Development Organization will attend the event as an honorary guest.

A micro, small and medium-sized enterprises conference will be held during the fair, where the policies that each country uses to support such companies will be shared. The conference will help to create a better understanding of company development and promote the companies to further open up, communicate and integrate.

Some activities focusing on the Belt and Road Initiative will be held, including a forum on the digital Silk Road, and a cooperation and communication meeting.

Business associations and companies from South American countries like Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Chile have been invited to take part in exchanges with Chinese companies.